Learning a thing or two about life

Sometimes, athletes forget that it's a privilege to compete in sports, not a God-given right, especially at the scholastic and collegiate levels.

By TOM DeSCHRIVER

Sometimes, athletes forget that it's a privilege to compete in sports, not a God-given right, especially at the scholastic and collegiate levels.

A week ago Friday, members of Stroudsburg High School's athletic teams helped the physical education department run its annual Fun and Fitness Day for third-graders.

While the teachers planned, oversaw and were responsible for the program, it was the high school students who put the icing on the cake.

To put it succinctly, they were great. They provided energy to the event and served as wonderful role models to their younger peers.

I think of those young adults now because I just read where Joe Paterno is going to have his football players perform community service for the entire upcoming football season.

Not just the bad apples that have been spoiling Paterno's carefully crafted barrel of fruit lately, but his entire team.

What a wonderful and refreshing idea.

Among the many things the players will be doing is helping clean the stadium on Sundays after home games — that will surely give any player who thinks he walks on water a taste of what it's like to swim in a sewer. They will also work with Special Olympics and build a home in Centre County through Habit for Humanity.

The money the athletes will receive for doing their jobs will be given to the university's sports clubs. Usually, members of the sports clubs clean the stadium, helping them fund their activities.

Wouldn't it be great if community service was a prerequisite for any athlete in high school or college who competes on a team whose school is funded with taxpayer dollars.

The list of community service needs is endless — road cleanup, visiting senior citizens, helping with Special Olympics, etc.

Athletics is supposed to build character, teach young people how to win and lose gracefully and prepare them for life. At some Division I schools, all it does is prepare them for a life of frustration. Once their usefulness to a university is finished, they are cast aside like half-eaten bait.

Too many don't bother to finish school, giving up the chance at a college education as soon as they realize they won't be signing a big pro contract.

By going into down-trodden neighborhoods to clean up urban blight or to a rural elementary school to help poor children learn to read, athletes would truly understand how blessed they are.

They are given skills and an opportunity to use those skills, while others in our society live day-to-day, making difficult decisions between food and fuel.

Penn State's football players are going to get an up-close look at what it's like to help their fellow man.

Joe Paterno has taken his fair share of heat over the years for his stale offense and staid uniforms, but this is one idea that JoePa should be applauded for and mimicked by all sports programs.